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Mannerheim Offensive
The Mannerheim Offensive, also known as the Karelian Isthmus Offensive, was the first battle of the Nordic Campaign. It was a land and air invasion of eastern Finland by the Soviet Union with the intent on removing fascist influence out of the country and provide relief to Sweden, which was suffering a blockade by Finland and its allies. The initial invasion caught Finland off guard and the Finnish forces scrambled to regroup and repel the Soviet invaders, but the sheer size of the Soviet troops and their technology was too much and the Finns could only hault the Soviet advance at best. Crossing the Border On November 18th, 2065, 32,000 soldiers of the Soviet Red Army had crossed the border in the Karelian Isthmus region and entered into eastern Finland and began invading and taking over large portions of urban areas, industrial centers, and even countryside in the country. The invasion was launched as a means of stopping the spread of fascism into Eastern Europe which began encroaching towards the Soviet Union and was besieging Soviet allies in Poland and Romania. Finland, which was an ally of Germany and took part in the Siege of Warsaw, was the invaded to stop German influence from spreading and to force the waring powers in Europe to the negotiating table. The invasion was launched and started off successfully with the Red Army overwhelming many Finnish Army posts on the border and forced them into retreat. The Finnish Army later regrouped and began digging in with trenches, barricades, and other defensive positions as they held their ground in a moderately large city for their defense against the Soviet Army as it began pouring into the Finnish countryside more and more. The Red Army took over large portions of Finnish territory and pushed forward with many Finnish units having either retreated or surrendered after seeing the Soviet Army march in after hearing the news of their arrival and successful takeovers of various Finnish territories. Finland later declared war on the USSR on November 19th and began mobilzing its forces to attack the Soviet troops on the border, but to no avail and they were pushed back once again by the Red Army while other simply surrendered. Defense of Finland By November 20th, Finland was put on the defensive and around 8,000 Finnish soldiers were sent to engage the much large Soviet invasion force, but the former was scattered due to Soviet air raids and artillery fire along with a harsh and brutal winter which the Finns had not predicated. The few regrouped Finnish army units got together and established a series of trenches and defensive positions across the central parts of Eastern Finland in preperation for the Soviet forces. By nightfall, Soviet bombers flew over the Finnish positions and forced them underground while the trenches were victim to a bombardment from Soviet artillery units and even chemical weapon attacks further forcing the Finnish troops underground and further piled on Finnish casualties. The Red Army eventually arrived at the Finnish trenches and began assautling them in battles similiar to that of World War I, but with far more advanced technology as Soviet tanks and heavy assault units provided cover fire for standard light infantry units and prevented casualties from piling on. Category:Battles Category:Events